318 IS

[tomstickland]

Three weeks ago I had never driven an E30. It started when I borrowed a 320 off a friend of mine. Within 2 days I was falling for the car. I quite quickly realised that a 325 or a 318IS would be a car worth having.

So I bought a 318 IS from Matth on this forum. I took the train down to London on Saturday morning and drove it back to Gloucester.



The weather was a bit crap, but my first impressions of the car were that it was a bit of a gem. Compared to the 320 it actually seemed to handle predictably in the wet, plus I noticed that the fuel gauge didn't seem to be dropping by a millmetre every mile.

I noticed no difference in terms of smoothness compared to the 6 pot engine.

Today it took it out down my favourite test roads. Me and this car are getting on really well. With some decent tyres on it I managed to overcome some of my fear of wet corners. This car seems to progressively drift rather than snapping into a mess like the 320 did (the 320 was on really cheap oversized tyres). I've not being doing any heroics, but I've been grinning a lot with the sensation of putting down some power round corners.

I also took the opportunity for a bit of a dual carriageway run and found the engine pulls really well up to high ish speeds. The thing I keep trying to explain to people I know on the Vauxhall forums is that it's as much about how it delivers the power as the amount of power. To them the BMWs are a bit underpowered. However, I never had as much fun doing 60mph in my Astra as I do in this 318. I like the smooth application power along with the way the car can flow down an A or B road with no need to slow down. Consistant speed. Addictive. I always said that the pursuit of power was not the path to happiness.

Anyway...the plans. The car needs MOTing soon, so I'm going to put it in this week and see what happens. I don't expect anything major; normal wear and tear things is not going to upset me.

It's going to get an oil and filter change and maybe some new plugs. I might flush the coolant through too. Just standard servicing. The previous owner obviosuly kept good care of the car and I just want to carry that on really.

I want to fit the 15" multispoke wheels from the 320 onto the car. I think that 15" wheels with Goodyear F1s is what I want.

Then further into the future my plans extend no further than fitting an LSD, rebuilding the front suspension and maybe trying a Z3 rack.

All good stuff, I never thought I could be excited about cars again.

[Simon13]

This is a proper zone car! 3 of us have owned it now me first

I put the alpina stickers in on the side glass, new number plates and the leather seats etc. Here she is at my house

[tomstickland]

You've got the bigger rear spoiler on it there too. I was thinking about putting that spoiler back on. It's got the much smaller boot spoiler on at the moment.

Is that a can of paint on leather there?

[ZS]

Nice looking car Tom, much better than that shed of an Astra. ;)

[tomstickland]

That Astra was a bloody riot to drive though. Lift off oversteer all the time. Very entertaining. Provided hours and hours of fun for me.

[Jhonno]

Nice purchase Tom..

Trouble with MIG is there are some blinkered ppl on there who have never tried anything different.. I used to be like it

Variety is the spice of life as they say..

[ZS]

That's eactly true - who cares what the badge is on the front, as long as it's fun to drive.

Most cars are Bosch or Lucas parts wrapped up in recycled steel and plastic anyway.

[tomstickland]

I'm very in love with this 318 IS!

Sadly I left the 320 keys at work so had to drive back there tonight (20 miles of B road). Good stuff. I'm driving like a girl on wet corners though.

I also had to use the 320 to delivery the spare wheels down to the unit. TBH I think I like the 320 as much as the 318. It's mainly to do with the "don't give a f**k" factor of the car. It does seem a bit more comfortable, must be the tractor tyres on it.

[Zayyan]

Sadly I left the 320 keys at work so had to drive back there tonight (20 miles of B road).

Don't lie! You left the keys on purpose!

Well done for buying it though, I desperately wanted this one but had to keep all the money I had for insurance/tax/MOT (all due at the bloody same time! ).

Look after it!

[tomstickland]

I put it in for the MOT this morning.
Failed on:
1) Headlamp alignment - fixed
2) One bottom ball joint worn. Will fix this evening.

I'm very pleased with that. Confirms that it's a tidy car really.

[tomstickland]

I've just been down to GSF motor factors.
It started with just a pair of ball joints.....

...ended up as:
-complete lower arms for both sides, with new ball joints already attached
-2 lower arm bushes
-2 new strut top bearings
-2 track rod ends
-oil, filter & plugs
total Ԛ£160. Oh well, the MOT wasn't exactly a heavy one.

[tim_s]

nice one!
Andy C told me that a guy he worked with had bought that one - I'd gone down to take a look a few weeks ago and thought it drove well. was telling Andy to buy it instead of his rusty golf but i guess old habits are hard to give up! im glad its gone to someone off here. am sure you'll have lots of fun with it.
was impressed at the head done so few miles ago, the top end was nice and quiet! timing chain done too. that covers a lot of the common iS problems. was a bit concerned he didn't have the sprockets done at the same time though in case the new chain doesn't bed in well to the old sprockets. get the 15s on it, if you liked it with the wheels on there, i think you'll like it even more on 15s with eagle f1s - i didnt think it drove very well on those 16s and it was pulling to one side i seem to remember which he said it only did on those wheels. the ball joint did need doing too, i noticed some play in that wheel - is cool its sorted. you figured out what the plastic pipe under the car was doing?! thought it might have been coming out of the clutch slave cylinder but it confused me a bit. you wanna get the gear linkage looked at too mate, was extremely sloppy and is easy to fix - take a look on here about he z3 shifter.
by the way, service parts don't cost much more from bmw than from gsf.
glad you're getting on with it, rear wheel drive's cool! would be interested of more impressions of it vs the 320.

[tomstickland]

I noticed that it pulled to the left when I drove it on Saturday. I put that down the the 16s and the tracking not being done. Ball joint didn't help, but all the same I took it up to 120 on the mway the other day (kmh of course officer).

My only real concern with the car is the rattling from the engine. My thoughts keep wavering on this, but I think it's a loose bit of heat shield or similar. It pulls very well and is returning 30mpg, so I don't see anything seriously mechanically wrong with the engine.

I'll have a look at the rattle source tomorrow. I haven't seen the plastic pipe yet. Will all become apparent when I replace the suspension items.

I've not noticed any issues with the gear change. It's better than the 320 I've got and miles better than my Astra ever was. Or maybe I just learnt to adjust with the Astra; I could always do quick changes in that with a sloppy linkage, so I find the 318/320 really fast.

As to comparison with the 320, it's the same but different. Engine in the 318 feels much more zingy, though the 320 actually goes quite well at higher rpm. The 318 feels much more solid and "light". The 320 feels more plush and maybe more solid. The 320 steering seems lighter, but the pedals in my 320 are heavier. It's not really comparing apples with apples though because the 320 is on the wrong size tyres and has been crashed. LOL. 320 is still a great car that I enjoy driving.

On other thing crossed my mind; if I'm going to compress the front springs so I can replace the top mounts then I might as well fit new dampers.

[Simon13]

the chain was all done before i bought it in 2002. that car is now on it's 3rd cylinder head in as many years! The tracking was fine when i had it on 16's. Would it change over time apart from someone wacking a kerb?

The car cannot of changed that much as i sold it on 133k and it's now on 135k?

[tim_s]

i thought the rattle was the zorst - i didnt hear any rattling in the bay. i thought manifold at first, but apparently thats been done.
Fecking hell, 3rd head at 130k. wonder why they have a reputation for being fragile engines!

[E30Mark]

As for the rattle check out the heat shield around the HT leads, runs above the exhaust manifold along the edge of the head. They ALWAYS crack through and rattle... less than a fiver from the dealer.

congrats on a great choice of car

[tomstickland]

I fitted the new lower arms yesterday. I had some entertainment pushing the new bushes into the housings. Ended up with the parts in the vice with a large bar on the end with my heaving on it. I was a bit scared about the whole vice cracking so I had the safety glasses on. Next bit of entertainment was working out how to get the bush onto the end of the wishbone. 5 minutes of heaving after smothering it in copper grease and it was done.

Anyway, by the time I finished I had now lower arms, new bushes, new ball joints, new track rod ends. Then I did an oil service and fitted new plugs. The old plugs were showing healthy combustion.

I then drove off to get the tracking done and found the car did not go in a straight line! At All. It was pulling all over the place. Dangerous to drive. I had a quick look and with one wheel pointing straight ahead then the other was at an angle of about 30 degrees! So I sorted that.

Got tracking done and finally got the MOT done.

Thanks for the info on the heat shield. I'll check that.

I was starting to go through the "1.8 is a biiit small for an E30" routing today. Until I got onto the B road. Then it was whooping out loud. This is a very entertaining car.

[Jhonno]

so how does it drive with the new bushes n control arms?

with it driving like that after replacing, would that not suggest the ones that were on there were bent?

[Geeman]

2nd block, 2nd head and 3rd rebuild at 185k...

Fragile...? Naaaaah!

I drove mine last week for the first time in months and months, and I have to say it drove better than my Sport!

Thinking about making mine road legal and taxing it... Just needs the front anti-roll bar mount fixing for the MOT and we're away!

[Jamesb318is]

putting rear wishbone bushes on with copper grease!!! They're supposed to stay in place once they're on!

By any chance was that the cause of your handling problems?

[Karan]

i think iS engines are very susceptible to hard running when cold moreso than other engines,......

plus i remember i used to rag the tits of mine all the time....its just that type of car....whereas even when im ragging my 2.7 i barely ever go over 5.5k.....with the iS i was always sat on the limiter....LOL

i miss my iS!!!!!!

[Adammcf]

Yeah theres something about a good 16v engine you cant help ragging the nuts off it. I used to drive the hell out of my GSI Astra but at least the Redtop engines can take it and come back for more.

[tomstickland]

putting rear wishbone bushes on with copper grease!!! They're supposed to stay in place once they're on!

By any chance was that the cause of your handling problems?

Front wishbones, rearmost bushes off. The wisbone is held in place by the main bush at the front of it. So no trouble there.

This has nothing whatsoever to do with the handling problems. That was caused by miles out tracking, which I knew was out because I was driving to the tyre place to get the tracking done because I had just fitted new track rod ends.


Anyway....
I went to Wales in the car this weekend.
What a blast. I'm very happy with it.